Business-Building Ideas From Terry L. Brock
We are seeing a quickened pace of doing business today. It is faster and, at times, more complex than ever before. It is easy for small business people like you and me to feel overwhelmed. However, if we focus on key areas that are rock-solid principles we’ll succeed no matter what.
Here are a few key factors which can directly help you in your business. I’d love to hear from you and what you think.
1. Get Help Wherever It Is Located. You can’t do it alone. Find the right talent to help you and be willing to pay for it. I’m not necessarily talking about hiring employees. Too many governments today penalize you for hiring people. In the US they have now passed a socialized medicine bill that we know is going to increase the costs of health care for businesses. Not only are we going to see the inevitable wait lines and rationing, but also the increased costs to businesses will be enormous. So, why hire additional people? In fact, you are better off laying off people you already have. Get the job done virtually wherever possible. When not possible to do it virtually think temporary. Get temporary workers to do a specific task and then disband. However, keep track of who did well at what and they can be temporarily hired for your next project. Think Mr. Phelps and Mission Impossible. Think Navy SEALS and Army Rangers. Think task force. This lightening fast team of experts to get the job done now is a great model of thinking for business.
2. Think Internationally. Just as you look for talent and skills internationally, look for new revenues in the same way. I’m amazed at what can be done with tools like Skype and PayPal to develop business internationally. Your business base can easily expand internationally in almost any business. Of course it works for consultants, speakers, coaches others. But what about someone whose business is more geographically focused like, say a dentist or a chiropractor? Well, it’s time to expand your view of what you offer. Think information. A dentist can provide really good educational material in the form of audio and video that can be sold as a product. Take a unique creative point of view that meets a market need and create downloadable videos, audios and/or articles. Remember Theodore Levitt’s classic work from the 60’s in the Harvard Business Review. The problem with the railroads was that they thought of themselves in the railroad business. Levitt’s very astute point was that they were in the transportation business. Expand your mind’s idea of exactly what business you’re in and think internationally.
3. Being There (In Person) Still Matters — A Lot! In all this talk about international business development, the Internet, Skype and more, we are still in the people business. You hear people talk about this concept of “Internet Marketing.” That would be like talking about “Fax Marketing” in the late 80’s and early 90’s when fax machines were really popular and emerging technology. Come on! It is about people, not technology. That means you connect with people and, yes, even in this age of wonderful instant communication, we want to see people face-to-face, in person whenever possible. We want to shake their hand. We want to share a few pints with our mates. We want to have that great meal where we break bread together. Use the technology but make plans to be at the important conferences, conventions, trade shows and just “I was in the area and wanted to see you” kind of meetings.
4. Learn To Learn Fast Have you noticed that things seem to change faster now then ever before? As new technology emerges in social media, new tools, new Net-accessible devices and more, successful people continually saturate their minds with new ideas. Become an “information vacuum cleaner” as Winston Marsh has taught us. Learn how to read rapidly to assimilate information quickly. Learn how to listen to audio faster. Hang around really smart people that stretch your brain and help it grow. Put yourself in environments where really, really smart people hang out and share ideas. Doing this will help you come up with more ideas that help your customers and ultimately increases your bottom line.
5. Remember Always You’re In The “Pleasing People” Business, No Matter What Business You’re In Regardless of the business you’re in you get your money from people. You have to develop products and services that people like and which solve particular problems they face. It is easy to lose track of that with an emphasis on the latest shiny new object of technology, the Internet or something else. Yes, embrace technology but remember that you are there to listen to what your customers want and then find creative, fun and mutually beneficial ways to solve their problems.
If you embrace these ideas, you are going to succeed no matter what happens with the business environment. And on top of that — you’ll have a lot more fun in the process!
Copyright (c) 2010, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc. Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results. He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com. Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: @TerryBrock. Join Terry’s Facebook Fan Page at: http://www.facebook.com/SpeakerTerryBrock
